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Hephaestus Manufacturing Alliance
The Hephaestus Manufacturing Alliance was an independent confederation of two worlds: Psi Olympia and Firebrand, both in the Pel's Aurora Region, and which formed in Year 197 when Colonial Deputy Lucia Holt accepted to take in a group of refugees fleeing warfare and seeking protection. The refugees were settled on Holt's secondary settlement, on the Volcanic World called Firebrand. The rest of the region however continued to refer to the colony as just Psi Olympia, until the events of the War on Triterra, during which time the Hephaestus Manufacturing Alliance decided to rebel against the Empire of Triterra and join The Free Systems coalition at the Battle of Meio. Its independence was therefore recognized by other independent nations in the region, like the Eru-Judian Commonwealth, Meyove Confederation, and Giannist Hierarchy. Lucia Holt, as a former colonial deputy appointed by Tritach to administrate Psi Olympia as a colony of employees, was forced to step down during the war, and an Anthroson that went by the name of Glacier temporarily assumed power. After the Battle of Meio, Glacier too had to resign due to a diplomatic faux pas committed during the battle, where Olympia demonstrated distrust of its new allies in the Free Systems, and foreign pressure lead Olympia to hold emergency elections, and elections every few years from then on, thus beginning to be a republican state. History Psi Olympia, an Ice World with a temporary annual atmosphere, was colonized under a Tritach charter in Year 197, with 165,000 colonists, most of which were from North America. Unlike most other colonies in the region, multiple settlements were established across the surface of the planet, nine in total: Aurora City, Vikoria, Edgemont, New Annapolis, Enford, Stargard, Frost Valley, Kumari Station, and Guildhall. All of these settlements were concentrated along "steam rivers" - river-like formations caused by cryovolcanism that created areas warmer and somewhat more habitable than the rest of the planet. All were built in islands of rocky areas, and dug into the ground. The colonists created an elaborate system to generate potable water from surrounding ice fields, a system known as the Thermoelectric Water Collection Network (or TWCN) which used electricity to generate heat to melt the ice and then pump fresh water back to the colony. This also, eventually, cleared small areas for expansion of the settlements. The colonial government funded exploration for methanol, and stable lakes of liquid methane were discovered near three settlements, which were soon exploited. Fusionables were also found in trace amounts in some rock formations (as Helium-3) and in the ice (in the form of frozen deuterium). The colony's economy grew exponentially over the next nine months, despite some interference. In First Abundance, Year 197, privateers hired by Ronstal attacked Tritach's Mass Conveyor. The colonists tried to help Tritach, but had no starships. The marauders briefly bombarded one of the planet's methanol rigs, causing an outbreak of temporary blindness and forcing expensive repairs. The warlord in question was Meri Gaiko. This lead Deputy Holt to pursue construction of laser turrets and expansion of the colonial militia to defend the planet against such attacks. Tritach's influence over Psi Olympia collapsed soon after this event, and Deputy Holt decided to accept the offer of sponsorship from Innovaganix instead. Soon, all of blue quadrant was an Innovaganix sphere of influence, all Tritach properties in the region bought out. In Broad Light, Year 197, Psi Olympia was again attacked by privateers, this time the powerful warlord Red Death, who demanded the colony surrender a large stockpile of resources or be bombarded. Deputy Holt agreed to transfer the resources, but Red Death attacked anyway, again causing severe damage to economic infrastructure. Innovaganix had previously ordered a squadron of warships to defend the colony, but unfortunately they arrived in the system just three days too late. Innovaganix assisted the Olympians with reconstruction. Summer's Set, Year 197 was an eventful month for the colony. Refugees from outside Pel's Aurora arrived in a nearly broken-down Star Galleon and begged Deputy Holt to accept them. As her advisers warned that there would not be enough space in the underground settlements to accommodate so many people. This was further aggravated by an earthquake that struck the capital, which caved in a lot of the space they did have, and stranded many miners and machinery. So, Holt agreed to help but instead offered them to settle on Firebrand, the Olympian name for the system's local Volcanic World. The refugees accepted, and so began the Hephaestus Manufacturing Alliance as we know it today. Economy As the name may suggest, heavy industry was of prime importance to the state's economy, with two radically different planets that supported each other. Psi Olympia was an Ice World and produced a lot of Methanol and Helium-3. Firebrand, a volcanic world, churned out 80,000 metric tonnes of Ablatives and Heavy Metals each quarter in mining yield. While this was below the contemporary average for the region (135,000 metric tonnes each quarter) it was well above most other nearby inhabited worlds. This mining economy fueled a modest industrial base including ten nanofactories and two orbital foundries. Although seemingly agrarian if compared to Mega-conglomerate headquarters in the region or the Giannist Hierarchy, the Hephaestus Manufacturing Alliance was actually one of the more industrialized, high-tech economies in the region, comparable to the neighboring Eru-Judian Commonwealth. However, it wasn't totally economically independent, for domestic food production was very low and much of the population's needs had to be imported. The emphasis on heavy industry also meant reduced output of consumer goods, and so common electronics and pharmaceuticals were often imported. Certain vehicle parts, otherwise an Olympian specialty, were also too sophisticated for competitive domestic manufacture and were occasionally bought elsewhere. The Manufacturing Alliance's largest trade partners were Regotha, Eximius Concerted Trade Ventures, and the Giannist Hierarchy. Olympia's modest industrial capacity nonetheless produced some high-quality specialized goods. The local specialty was vehicle production, specifically for exploration on Ice Worlds like Olympia or on Volcanic worlds like Firebrand, but also military vehicles, especially IFVs and armoured cars, for which Olympia had independently researched, developed, and locally engineered its own patterns for. Some Beamer designs for its military were also of indigenous design. Military Planetary Force The Hephaestus Manufacturing Alliance put 21,100 soldiers to field during the War on Triterra, although only 5,000 actually saw action, as part of an expeditionary force that participated in the Siege of Awugheswt, lead by Major General Cai Vollan, who later was a candidate for president. This expeditionary force saw heavy combat against Triterran Orbital Insertion units on the western ridge and sustained heavy losses. This was the only time its military actively engaged an enemy. Otherwise, the Manufacturing Alliance generally took on a defensive, passive approach to foreign policy. Psi Olympia was airless (for most of a year), and so was easily defended by laser turrets, of which six mediums and four heavies were installed within the first year of its initial settlement, and enough energy was always held in reserve to project a tachyon field over the defensive installation. Furthermore, all cities on Olympia were mostly underground, partly for warmth, partly to more easily create breathable air, and partly for security. Similarly, Firebrand's settlers built two heavy coil-cannons after a few months. Both worlds gradually expanded these defenses, and had a permanent garrison of one thousand to man the turrets and defend them against ground assault. The core of the army were the four infantry divisions. They were binary divisions with only two brigades each, and furthermore these brigades were somewhat understaffed, meaning each 'division' was only 5,000 soldiers each. They were armed with coilgun battle rifles, most of which were imports either from megacorps or the Giannists, with each squad consisting of one soldier with a locally-manufactured heavy beamer as a squad support weapon. All soldiers wore hard armour. By the time the Manufacturing Alliance was gearing up for war with Triterra, its divisions had begun to mechanize, each one receiving a few dozen Armoured Combat Vehicles, all of which were of a local design. The army, from its equipment and vehicles to its training and doctrine, was primarily geared towards fighting either on Psi Olympia or Firebrand. It also helps that ice and volcanic worlds are some of the most difficult to invade. Astrofleet While the Manufacturing Alliance managed to create a reasonably powerful army for the region that met its needs, its lack of a need or desire to project power meant that its astrofleet was much more limited in comparison. For its part during the war on Triterra, it only contributed a single Star Cutter, which was used to bring the expeditionary force to Meio and to provide some recon for the larger coalition fleet. During the war, only 4 starships were in service: the largest being the OSS Resilience, a Star Galleon built in Year 10, which was originally built more as a luxury cruiser than a Mass Conveyor or warship. It was only armed with six medium lasers, and due to the aging and incompatible machinery, it was never upgraded, and was only used as a survey ship and for bulk transport. There was a second star galleon, of unknown origin, which the refugees had come in and was integrated into the astrofleet as the OSS Repulse. It was unarmed. Other starships of the fleet included the OSS Bellerophon, a cutter used for gas giant harvesting, and the OSS Defender, a sloop-of-war. Because the rest of the Free Systems were distrustful of Glacier's administration, Olympia received no starships as spoils of war from Triterra. Ultimately, Sorina Mullins won the emergency elections after Glacier stepped down. To restore trust with The Free Systems by contributing to TFS military efforts, and to protect Olympian trade, Sorina changed priority from the ground forces to the astrofleet, and over the next few years a handful of frigates were commissioned: the OSS Bulwark, OSS Spitfire, and the OSS Vollan. All of them were Aggressor II-class frigates built by Acteon Shipbuilding Currents, New Nassau pattern. Category:Stellar Empires Category:Human empires Category:Countries and Factions